who put the 'glad' in gladiator?
by KrisRide94
Summary: He's not sure he should be entirely surprised that sitting down to watch movies with Annabeth results in constant mentions of historical inaccuracies and an existential crisis or two. Or, Percy and Annabeth watch Hercules and Percy's never been more in love with his girlfriend than he is in that moment.


He'd been watching the rain absently through the apartment window for nearly an hour when Annabeth suggested that they do something at least vaguely productive with their time while Sally was still apparently stranded at work. Percy glanced at her quickly, a mischievous smirk on his face that Annabeth was sure wasn't going to bode well for either of them in the long run — or maybe it would, he'd been particularly forward the last couple of days and if the vague tingling sensation she could feel on her lips was any indication, she hadn't exactly forgotten. She quirked an eyebrow at her boyfriend lazily as he dug around in a box next to the television for nearly five minutes before he fell back with a triumphant noise, brandishing a DVD in his hand with a grin.

"What've you got there, Seaweed Brain?" She raised herself from her place on the couch in an attempt to see the movie more clearly, huffing when Percy shook his head in amusement and hid the case behind him, foiling her attempt handily.

"It's a surprise," He drawled playfully, holding a finger to his lips as if sharing some great secret, "You're just going to have to be patient," He smirked again, ambling back to the couch and kissing her cheek lightly, "I know you can do it!"

"I hate you." She grumbled, crossing her arms petulantly as she waited for the DVD menu to appear on the screen.

Percy rolled his eyes with a smile, "You do not. You're a really terrible liar, y'know that?"

Annabeth responded with a jab to his ribs that made him laugh and wince almost in one motion, he rubbed at his side with a mock affronted look, "That's not very nice of you, Wise Girl."

"You were asking for it." She quipped tersely.

He'd learned by now that nothing all that good ever came out of arguing with Annabeth, except for that one time he'd gotten her so angry arguing about proper sword technique that she'd pushed him up against a wall and kissed him so hard he'd been positive he'd never be able to catch his breath again. Okay, so, strike that last part, there were some perks to arguing with Annabeth but all he wanted to do at the moment was settle down and have a quiet day that involved as little arguing as humanly possible. They weren't off to an auspicious start but he felt confident — how much arguing could they really do over a Disney movie anyway?

As it turned out, Annabeth could argue just about anything and Percy was positive she could argue her way out of a paper bag — was that the saying? He couldn't remember. All he knew was that it had taken the daughter of Athena all of three minutes to comment on the movie's "obvious historical inaccuracies" to the point where Percy was all but ready to hold his hand over her mouth just to get her to enjoy the movie. He settled for kissing her instead, muttering something about "trying to relax" before he slung his arm around her shoulders and made a grand show of focusing on the movie - hoping it would urge his girlfriend to do the same. It took three or four more minutes, but by the time the gods were gathered for Hercules's party, she seemed to calm down and they spent a decent chunk of time watching the movie in relative silence - with his occasional humming of at least a few of the songs, which drew more than a few teasing looks from his girlfriend.

"What?" He protested softly, a slight whine to his voice, "Mom used to let me watch this one all the time. Guess now I know why I liked it so much."

She rolled her eyes at him, though he could see the smile she gave him when she thought he wasn't paying attention, "How can you stand it now? I mean, look at them!" She gestured to the brightly colored caricatures of the gods with a disgruntled expression, "Your dad looks like a creature from the black lagoon," She grumbled snidely, "And Mother does not carry around a pet owl."

Percy couldn't help but laugh, "Seriously, babe? It's a kid's movie, they weren't really shooting for historical accuracy when they made it." He replied immediately, raising his hands in a gesture of peace when she glared at him like she wanted to smack him upside the head. "Just chill, okay? We'll get through this movie and I'll let you pick the next one, it gets cuter, I promise." He made a show of crossing his heart and Annabeth huffed again, seemingly placated.

He was slightly impressed when she didn't have any complaints, or at least none that she felt the need to share verbally and she only glared at him a little when he asked her if "I Won't Say I'm In Love" was her theme song for falling in love with him. "Wouldn't you like to know." She smirked lightly and Percy thought she'd never been so pretty.

"I would like to know," He agreed, "That's why I asked."

She peered at him suspiciously, "Are you going to make fun of me if I tell you I know all the words to this song?"

He smiled brightly, "'Course not!"

"That was very convincing."

"You know me, I'm very persuasive."

"You're an idiot, Seaweed Brain."

"Yes, but I'm your idiot. And you love me."

"Debatable."

They hadn't actually gotten around to sharing the L word yet, in Percy's mind, it hadn't felt all that necessary. They'd been through so much together, and he was positive he'd do anything in the world for Annabeth, no matter what it happened to be. That was what being in love was like, wasn't it? Someone could drive you absolutely crazy, but you'd still do anything for them if they needed you. He pondered the theory quietly as the movie continued to play, wondering if it would be weird to admit that he identified with cartoon Hercules more than a little bit when he was perfectly willing to jump down into the river of souls in the Underworld just to save Meg. It didn't feel weird to him, in fact, it made more sense than anything he'd ever heard about being in love before. Everyone else always talked about it in such poetic terms, they made it sound like it was some insanely profound thing and there wouldn't be any way of mistaking it when it happened. Sure, maybe it was some profound thing, and maybe he'd been feeling it for a really, really long time and hadn't realized it. But he was sure whenever he looked back on the moment they were sharing now, all he was going to think about was the fact that a freaking cartoon god made him realize he was stupidly in love with Annabeth Chase.

"I love you." He blurted as he glanced away from the screen where the gods were celebrating Hercules and his return to Olympus.

Annabeth sputtered for such a long moment that Percy was worried he'd broken her, "What?"

He blushed brightly, the kind of flush that started somewhere down on his chest and crept all the way up until his ears were on fire and he wanted to summon water from the kitchen sink if it would help him not look like such a dweeb, "I said, I love you." He repeated, suddenly worried he'd forgotten to breathe properly.

She stared at him for a long moment before she reached back and slugged him hard in the arm.

He winced and reached out to rub the spot, squeaking a little in surprise when she pulled him towards her by the collar of his shirt and kissed him soundly.

"I love you too."

He smiled like a dope when she finally pulled away and offered the television a brief glance, mentally offering a thank you to whoever happened to be listening that he'd finally come to a conclusion that felt like it had been lurking somewhere for years.

Thank the gods for Hercules.


End file.
